


The First Days Of Love: The Beginning Of Something Special

by poldarked_fangirl



Category: Poldark (TV 2015), Poldark - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 05:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9642248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poldarked_fangirl/pseuds/poldarked_fangirl
Summary: WHN for 1x01 - Demelza cares for Ross after the beating given him by her father.  She also discovers what kind of man he truly is.PART 1 OF THE "First Days Of Love" SERIES, set in the early says of Ross and Demelza's relationship.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so, so much to my wonderful, beautiful, amazing beta reader: @chocolatepig221bteasatfour !! I could not have finished this one without you!!!

  
Demelza heard him gasp behind her at the jolt as they rode home.  She pretended she hadn’t heard him.  She was sure he didn’t know she had been hiding in the bureau.  She was also sure he would’ve turned her out after such an encounter with her father.  She was pleasantly surprised when he did not.   

 

Finally, they arrived back at Nampara.  He slid off Darkie before she did, landing on his feet with a suppressed groan in the back of his throat.   

 

“Yee be alright, sir?” she asked him after dismounting. 

 

“I’m fine,” he sighed.  “Have Jud see to the horse…” he turned to go into the house.  

 

Inside, he gingerly slipped off his coat, and made his way to the cupboard in the parlor, desperate for a drink.  He stopped halfway to catch his breath.  Demelza walked in and saw him leaning heavily on a chair; his left arm was wrapped tightly around his torso.   

 

“Fathur _did_ hurt yee!” she came up beside him.   

 

Ross shook his head.  “It’s nothing,” he tried to wave her off and walk away, but he staggered as soon as he let go of the chair.   

 

Demelza was quick and caught him by the shoulders.  “Please, sir, let me help,” she begged.  

 

Ross finally nodded and let her lead him towards the stairs.  Once they got there, she stopped to let him catch his breath again.  Sliding his arm across her shoulders, she slowly helped him up the stairs.   

 

Ross paused for a moment at the first landing with a gasp, his hand searching for the railing.   

 

“What?” she asked.   

 

“…Dizzy.”  

 

Demelza cringed sympathetically.  She attributed his light-headedness to the rough kick she’d seen her father give him in the head.  He’s lucky he wasn’t knocked out.   

 

After a few more moments they started again towards his room.  Inside, Demelza eased him shakily into a sitting position at the head of the bed.  “I’ll be right back,” she hurried off downstairs.   

 

She gathered a basin of cool water, some towels, and matches to add light to the dark bedroom.  Before running back up the stairs, she told Jud to send for a doctor, who muttered something about it growing dark soon, but did as he was told.   

 

Upon her return, she found him in the same position she left him, only possibly a little more pale.  She lit the lamps on each side of the bed and across the room.  She set the basin down on the bedside table and soaked a cloth.  She first took to his face, and gently began wiping away the blood that was dried above his eye and on his nose and mouth.  He winced slightly when her fingers brushed the bruising that was already growing darker under his right eye.  Once she was satisfied that most of his face was no longer covered in blood, she set about helping him remove his shirt.   

 

First she slipped his left arm out, and then his right, discarding the stained shirt onto the floor.  She gasped at the site before her.  On the right side of his ribs, a huge black and purple bruise, about the size of both his hands, made itself known against his smooth skin.  A small cut, no more than an inch or two in length, ran along the top of the injury.   

 

Demelza quickly dampened the cloth again, and gently placed it on the cut to try and stop the bleeding.  Obviously the spot was sensitive, and Ross gasped sharply.  Reflexively, his hand went out and grabbed her wrist, trying to stop the pain.   

 

She looked up into his pain-filled, dark eyes, speechlessly apologizing for the pain she was causing him.  She switched the cloth to her other hand, and taking his hand from her wrist linked her fingers between his.  “Squeeze my hand,” she said quietly.  He did, but she could tell he was holding back.    

 

She tried not to stare at him.  This was the first time she had ever seen a man’s body unclothed.  He was muscular and strong, and she knew her father must have fought hard to injure such a strong-looking man.

 

Demelza’s thoughts were interrupted as the bedroom door opened to reveal Prudie with Tom Choake.  She had never met him, but she could tell from the black bag he carried that he was the doctor.  “Stand aside, young lady,” he ordered, setting his bag down beside Ross.  “Who are you?” he asked her. 

 

Ross looked up at him in confusion.  He didn’t know Demelza had sent for him.  “She’s my servant,” he said weakly.   

 

“No doubt, judging by her attire.  Now then,” he directed his tone at Ross.  “What did you do to yourself?”  

 

Ross shot him a look.  “ _I_ did nothing… but defend myself against an attack in my own home.”   

 

“And what was the cause this time?” he hadn’t even made eye-contact with his patient.   

 

Demelza gulped.  Ross looked at her.  “A difference… of opinion,” he finally said.   

 

“Hmm,” Choake grunted in his usual fashion.  Adjusting his spectacles, he stood in front of Ross.  Demelza stood to the side near the bedside table as he took both hands and began feeling the ribs on Ross’s left side.  “No pain?” he asked, to which Ross shook his head.   

 

Choake’s hands moved to Ross’s bruised side, and had the patient known how far from gentle the doctor would be, he maybe would have tried to prepare himself.  At his rougher than expected jabbing and feeling, several ribs shifted badly under his fingers.  Ross immediately doubled over, screaming in agony.  His left hand flailed out and gripped the bedpost tightly. 

 

Choake seemed unmoved by his cries, but Demelza was not unfeeling.  She quickly knelt down again at his side, and prying his fingers from the wooden post, held his hand in both her own.  She tried to help him sit back straight as the doctor began unrolling bandages from his bag.   

 

The throbbing in his side was incessant, and his knuckles quickly turned white around her’s.  Though it took Choake less than ten minutes to finish wrapping Ross’s ribs, it felt like ages to him.  He kept his eyes shut nearly the whole time, the pain causing him to see flashes of light.  Once the doctor finished, Ross involuntarily began to slump forward with a sigh.   

 

Demelza reacted immediately and held him up, her arms around his broad shoulders.   

 

“Keep him in bed the remainder of the week,” Choake ordered as he began packing his bag.  “And a spoon of this before bed for pain.”  He placed a small vial on the table that Demelza thought for sure was nearly half empty.   

 

She did not what to say or do as she watched the doctor walk out as briskly as he strode in.  As the door shut behind him, her attention was drawn back to Ross, whose breathing had evened out some.   

 

“Sir… yee should lie down,” she let him go for a moment and began pulling the comforter from the bed.  She fluffed the pillows before returning to her master.  Kneeling down in front of him, she slowly pulled each of his boots off and set them in their usual spot at the foot of the bed.   

 

Gently, she eased him back onto the bed, his hand holding tightly to her arm in pain as he laid back against the pillows.  He sighed loudly as the new position eased some of the pressure in his chest.   

 

As Demelza brought the comforter up to his chin, he opened his eyes and grabbed her hand.  Her gaze snapped toward him.  After a moment of silence, Ross spoke.  “Thank you,” he sighed.   

 

She just smiled and finished making sure he was comfortable.  “You should take some medicine,” she said reaching for the bottle, only to realize there was no spoon.  “I’ll be back.”  

 

When she returned, Demelza found him fast asleep.  Placing the vial and spoon beside the bed, Demelza had to fight the urge to run her fingers through his beautiful, dark, falling curls.  Instead, she moved to a chair by the fire.  She didn’t want to leave him just yet.  

 

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_  
  
  
That night, Ross woke.  The pain in his chest was down to a dull throb, but it was persistent, and beating in time with one in his head.  He attempted to shift his position, but his ribs moved painfully.  Demelza woke in his chair at his sharp intake of breath, and quickly made her way to the bedside.  “Sir?”  

  
He blinked in confusion at her for a moment, until she moved forward to help him rest higher up on the pillow.  He sighed, trying to regain his breath.  “Did you sleep here all night?” he asked finally.   

 

“Yessir…” she nodded.  “Only, tis not morning yet. I think it be only just past midnight, sir.”  

 

Ross nodded.   

 

“Do yee want to take some of the medicine the doctor left yee?”  

 

Ross shook his head.  “Damn stuff never does any good… I’m better off with brandy or port.”  

 

“I’ll get some then,” she turned and quickly left before he could stop her.  She returned promptly with a bottle of brandy and a glass.  To Ross’s surprise, it was almost completely full.  “I see you found one that Jud hadn’t gotten in to.”  

 

Demelza smiled.  “Yessir.  Tucked away i’twas,” she said as she poured some for him.   

 

Gently, but efficiently, she helped him sit up just enough to take a drink.  She could see him grow more relaxed as he lay back down, the liquor working to ease some of the pain.   

 

“Demelza,” he said quietly.  She looked at him but did not speak.  “Sit down,” he nodded toward the side of the bed.   

 

She did as he ordered.  “I wanted to thank you again,” he said.  Though he sounded tired, she let him continue.  “I brought you here as my servant, but it is not your duty to care for me other than cooking and cleaning.  Nor is it your responsibility to go against your father for me.”   

 

“But sir, tis all my fault!” she interrupted.   

 

Ross furrowed his brow.  “What do you mean?”  

 

She sighed.  “Oh sir, had I never come ‘ere, father would have naught come after yee.  Yee wouldn’t be laid up here now!” She had tears in her eyes.  “It’s all my fault.”  

 

“Now, Demelza,” he reached out and held her hand.  Ross sighed, choosing his words carefully so she would understand.  “Yes, you chose to come here, but at my request.  And you stayed at my order.  None of this is your fault… but it _is_ mine.”  She looked confused.  “Had I gone to your father and told him of the situation, things may have been different.  But I went about things in the wrong way.  I suppose… I wanted to protect you… from him.  Take care of you.”  

 

“And now tis up to I to care for you,” Demelza joked.  She and Ross laughed until he hissed at the pain the laughter caused.  Demelza cringed sympathetically.   

 

“Yes, I suppose it is.”  A moment of silence passed until he spoke again.  “So you do wish to stay then?”  

  
Demelza paused for a moment.  She didn’t have the nerve to look him in the eye.  Instead, she just stared down at the floor and said, “Yes, sir…” so quietly that he almost didn’t hear her. 

 

“Alright then.  Go downstairs and tell Prudie you’re staying for good, and then I want you to set about finding something decent to wear.”  Demelza was smiling widely as he spoke.  “I can’t have you working in my house in that state.  If you find something you like, bring it to me.  If not, I’ll go to town and buy you a decent dress once I’m out of this bed.  And you’re to wash.  Regularly.  Understand?” 

 

“Yes, sir!” her face was lit.   

 

“But first…”  

 

“Yes?”  

 

“Bring me something edible, please?  Before I down this entire bottle, and Lord knows what will happen after that,” he grinned.   

 

Demelza smiled at him again before turning around and running toward the door.  She stopped just before walking out.  She looked back at him with the brightest smile Ross thought he’d ever seen.  “Thank yee, Sir!” and with that she was gone.   

 

Ross laid back against the pillows and sighed.  He was glad she was here.  And he sent up a silent prayer that he would always be able to keep that smile in her face.  She deserved to be happy.


End file.
